diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c76a765089bcbfdf51d6f6433d6516270aa71dd6..9b092e8276594e961761db6e4130aaea45c04053 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ black:
     before_script:
         - apk add --update --no-cache curl jq
     script:
+        - if [ `curl -s "${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/pipelines?ref=${TARGET_BRANCH}&status=success&private_token=${PRIVATE_TOKEN}"` == "[]" ]; then echo "no prior run on ${TARGET_BRANCH}, good to go."; exit 0; fi
         - TARGET_PIPELINE_ID=`curl -s "${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/pipelines?ref=${TARGET_BRANCH}&status=success&private_token=${PRIVATE_TOKEN}" | jq ".[0].id"`
         - TARGET_COVERAGE=`curl -s "${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/pipelines/${TARGET_PIPELINE_ID}/jobs?private_token=${PRIVATE_TOKEN}" | jq --arg JOB_NAME "$JOB_NAME" '.[] | select(.name==$JOB_NAME) | .coverage' | cut -d. -f1`
         - CURRENT_COVERAGE=`curl -s "${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/pipelines/${CI_PIPELINE_ID}/jobs?private_token=${PRIVATE_TOKEN}" | jq --arg JOB_NAME "$JOB_NAME" '.[] | select(.name==$JOB_NAME) | .coverage' | cut -d. -f1`